SUI vs CZE

Prediction: SUI 1 - 3 CZE. Barnetta or Baros might score.

Result: SUI 0 - 1 CZE , Barnetta didnt score but went close twice. Baros didn't play.

The Swiss played better than expected and forced 6 saves from Cech. They attacked when ever possible. The Czech defence was a little dodgy. It was very hard to listen to commenary in Hindi. It was irritating and funny.

POR vs TUR

Prediction: POR 2 - 1 TUR, Ronaldo or Nihat might score

Result: POR 2 - 0 TUR, Ronaldo struck the post from a free kick and Nihat sucked.

It was a decent game until the first half with Portugal dominating most of it. The fact that the Turks played for a draw was evident. Inspite of fielding an attacking formation, they never attacked. One cross field ball from Deco during the first half was terrific. But Simao didn't pass the ball early and wasted a wonderful opportunity. Pepe scored with a wonderful one-two from 6 yards out. It wasn't a counterattack, wasn't a set piece. I don't know what a centerback was doing there. The second goal came late into the second half. By then, the game was really boring. Buildup for the second goal was excellent too.

Today's Predictions:

AUS 0 - 1 CRO ( 1800 hrs CET )

GER 2 - 0 POL ( 2045 hrs CET )

Klose, Podolski, Petric, Olic - Atleast two will score. 

The party is about to begin. Can't wait for the kick off. I decided to write my daily predictions here. The predictions have no reason at all. I just pick who I think will win and give it a random score. Not random actually, but I will not arrive at the score line as a true pundit does because I am not one.

SUI vs CZE ( 1800 CET ): Though the Swiss have not played any qualifier, they might be formidable opponents to the Czechs. Especially, after they gave England a scare when they scored a goal at Wembley. But again, it's England. No wonder they scored. Coming to the Czechs, despite missing Nedved and ever injured Rosicky, they do have the fearsome stature of the ageing Jan Koller. Milan Baros apparently seems to be scoring very well for his country than for any club he plays for. What makes him tick ? Only Karel Brueckner knows. I don't think home support will be of much help for the Swiss.

Prediction: SUI 1 - 3 CZE

POR vs TUR ( 2045 CET ): With lots of quality and Scolari the portuguese are expected to do it on day 1. Turkey shouldn't be underestimated though. They do have quality in the form of the Altintop twins, Nihat and others. Remember that it was Scolari who ended Turkey's run in the 2002 world cup semi finals. Though it wouldn't be an easy job, Portugal would probably win.

Prediction: POR 2 - 1 TUR

Atleast 2 of these would score:

Baros, Ronaldo, Nihat, Barnetta.

It is a little troublesome for me to format all the quotes with my comments. So, I decided to use google notebook instead. Atleast , until I write a small script ( using gdata api ) that fetches me my content and does all the formatting automatically. 

Here's the link for this week: TWIF 2

There's also last week's post: TWIF 1 

The tags might be annoying, please don't mind.  Also, there are a few funny ones. Do not miss them.

Leave your views in the comments if you wish to ;) 

And European Championships have never been England's thing. Of the eight tournaments played in the modern format, they have failed to qualify or been eliminated in the group stages six times.

Twenty years ago, England went to a European Championship ranked first in the world after a qualification campaign that had seen them concede one goal and drop one point. They had Gary Lineker, Chris Waddle, Peter Beardsley, John Barnes, Bryan Robson and Peter Shilton.

They lost every game.
Pity

Such is Carragher’s devotion to his hometown that he still speaks in old fashioned “Scouse”, which is less a language, more a collection of sniffs, snorts and throat hacking.
LOL. That's true. If you haven't heard Carra so far, try your luck at youtube. Search for his interviews. I' is anythin' bu' English maite.

consider the treatment given by the Czech Republic to their opponents on Tuesday.

When they arrived at the Stadion Eden, the visitors were treated to a proud display of Latvian flags, and a triumphant version of the Latvian national anthem ‘Dievs, svētī Latviju!’ (‘God bless Latvia!’). The welcome would have been enough to bring tears to the eyes of the nation’s most famous resident, medical professional Dr Doom.

All was fine and dandy, except for the fact that the Latvian squad were sitting at home in their tiny Baltic nation discussing flat tax rates and commy politics. The opponents were actually their Balkan neighbours Lithuania.
How irresponsible of the organisers. The incharge later resigned taking full responsibility for the mistake.

England Man Marking at Wembley

Steven Gerrard
Showed his adaptability to be England’s most creative player during the first half in an unfamiliar position on left. Capped display with goal. - rating: 7
What a pity! Associating Stevie G MOTM,MBE with creative play shows the miserable state of English football.

The vibes at the September press conference said it all. The man dubbed 'Avram Who?' responded to questions about his lack of Premier League experience saying: "I remember when Arsene Wenger came to Arsenal. It was 'Arsene Who?'... I understand all the doubts about me but, if I may say, I am not at Day One in football."
Frankly, he took them where Mourinho couldn't - The UEFA Champions league final. That was more than what was expected of him.

A final memory: as Terry crumpled in anguish, only one member of a United contingent containing seven players who have served England alongside him went to his side. Gary Neville, recovering from injury, got his suit soaked and shoes muddied as he ran across the pitch to offer consolation. Only then did United's club captain return to the celebrations. It was an impressive measure of the man.
Putting you country before your club.

"In my philosophy of leadership it was a very bad one because in football 'almost' means defeat and Chelsea almost won the Carling Cup, almost won the Champions League, and almost won the Premier League," said Mourinho. "Almost is nothing."
Hmm ... Strong words.

I hope you liked it ;)

OK. It finally ends - The pain of seeing Arsenal not win any trophy this season. But, there's always a next season unless it's Armegeddon. We'll be back for the next season. We do have a very good chance if Rio Ferdinand does less goal keeping ( as he did against wigan on the final day of EPL ), Gallas does less crying on the ground and one Mr. Tomáš Toorisky ( translated: Rosický ) stays fit which is as feasible as Real Madrid offering nothing less than £50m for Eboue along with Robinho and funding us to buy Kaka ( transfer + wages )

So, here we are. The season is over. Euro 2008 and one hell of a transfer window remain for this summer. Samir Nasri is for some reason not putting the pen on the paper. He probably wants to stick his dick in the lockers of Lyon's changing room like Modric did in Zagreb last summer and will do nothing but that with the Scum next season. Nasri says he's keeping his options open. I think we should sign him soon or hope that he doesn't perform well until Euro is over.

Elsewhere: if you want to get a post-match ( UCL Final ) reaction from the stadium listen to the latest 5 live football daily BBC podcast. It's a nice podcast. A lot from the stadium - interviews with the players, Avram , Sir Alex - Oh! wait ... what !? Yes, you heard it right. Wow! Sir Alex Fungusface is talking to the BBC again. OK! atleast one of these happened:

1. Sir Alex changed his mind and decided to talk to the BBC again: In that case I don't know if I'll be happy to see that portuguese arse Carlos Queiroz never again on MoTD or be sad to hear the ridiculous Scottish accent. These people need to learn how to speak proper English from either Rafa/Wenger/The Special One(!)

2. Emotion Overshadowed Anger: It could happen. No big deal. Champions league is not a trophy you win everyday. So, he might not be knowing what he was doing. Did anyone check if he had his pants on him ?

3. BBC Trick: The reporters might have gone to him with a Skysports/ITV mike in their hands or they might have borrowed that bit of interview from Sky/ITV.

Onemore thing - Say sorry to terry ... Hilarious

Finally, I don't have anymore words after looking at this link.

I thought it would be nice to translate diego's blogs into English. Though I'm not very good at German, I think I can atleast convey the meaning ;) I obviously can't translate word to word. I'll try my best.

Original Post: Ich sage: Manchester gewinnt die Champions-League!

The unity in chelsea is fantastic. Just because of their will [to win], incredible quality and that unity they reached the finals. I was at home and watched Manchester United again. Their defensive performance was impressive.

There are two english teams in the final and this shows how good the english football currently is. When two good teams like ManU and Chelsea face, a lot can happen. But, I will defenitely bet my money on ManU. I think ManU deservs to win the Champions league because they play simply the best football.

Ofcourse I would also like to play in a champions league final or even win it. I still remember our games [ in the UCL ] this season well. The games against Madrid were simply bad. Unfortunately, we were eliminated relatively early this season. But, I hope we can go further in the next year.

So, who do you think will in the Champions league this season ? ManU with C.Ronaldo and Rooney or Chelsea with Drogba and Ballack ?

From the comments: Most of the people think ManU will win. Somone predicted a 2-1 to Chelsea. Basically the comments aren't very interesting.

I hope Chelsea will win it. What do you think will be a priority for Sir Alex Fungusface ? One thing I will predict here is that no team will win a double. Don't come back after May 21st and laugh at this article if the prediction goes wrong ;)

Check out this video where Stefán Gíslason scores a wonderful goal with something that looks like a kung-fu kick.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dO8wYUiOrWs

See this one from the Hamburg-Bremen derby. This is not a goal though. Any referee would have given a red card for such a thing. This one didn't give a shit.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zGplCUlBCtw

Funny things aside, see this wonderful nike ad by Guy Ritche

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=hS2hnJOsWII

Finally, did you know that Bremen and Bazilian Midfielder Diego writes a blog. It's recent, but decent. Well, it's in German. Provides some insight to the German Bundesliga.

http://de.eurosport.yahoo.com/fussball/diego/

Two of the most unusual things you'll ever see happened yesterday.

1. Robben scored with a header. Even he was very surprised that he went around banging his palm against his bald head.

2. Ever seen a goal keeper getting booked for diving ? Well, Víctor Valdés was theatrical yesterday. When the referee waved on when he appealed, he went down as if he was clipped on his legs. Foolish!

Well done Los Merengues.